A few years back a friend of mine asked if I might want two old upholstered chairs that were going to thrown out. Without seeing them I said um yes please. Turns out I was picking up a pair of chairs that looked like a raccoon had made a nest out of them. I could not wait to get started rebuilding them. I loved reupholstering these chairs and discovering the beauty still hiding in their frames. Since then I have collected a few more pieces of furniture to restore. They have been in storage for years, I can’t wait to plan their transformations and show you how to go from raccoon nests to glory. For today I will simply outline the furniture reupholstery process to give you an idea of whats involved.
Furniture Reupholstery – Why I Love it
I love puzzles. I love taking things apart to see how they went to together. When I brought home these mildly disgusting upholstered chairs in 2017. I didn’t have an immediate plan for what I wanted them to look like. All I knew was that I had to take them apart to learn more about how they were built. I peeled away each layer of fabric, finding multiple kinds of batting, a synthetic horsehair padding, burlap covered bumpers. Very carefully I removed each layer so I could use them for measurements and hunting replacements online. Not only did I get to take apart a multi dimensional puzzle, but I could redesign it as I put it back together.
Preparations – give some old chairs some love
First I stripped the chairs down, removing dozens upon dozens of staples and upholstery nails I could inspect the chair frame itself. After watching a whole bunch of YouTube videos I ordered the chair foam, wrapped cotton cord, raw cotton batting and fabric swatches. Then I sanded down the frame to remove the old paint, rewatched YouTube videos and retied all the chair springs while collecting an impressive set of blisters. Even though I was waiting on fabric swatches to arrive I knew I wanted antiqued silver frames. I was really happy with my first ever attempt at using antiquing wax.
Once all my fabric swatches arrived I settled on a gorgeous teal upholstery velvet and a silver damask for the back panel of the chair. I played with layered trim options, then remembered less is more and used a simple silver braid. I love the fabric I went with, I still pet the velvet when I walk by.
Reupholstery – build up the cushions and install fabric
Once all the padding arrived I could finally see if my YouTubing would pay off. I installed all the layers of burlap, muslin, velvet etc. neatly in place on the chair frame. With my fibromyalgia, squeezing a staple gun repeatedly is not an option for me. I ordered a pneumatic upholstery staple gun (they have a longer nose than normal staple guns) and borrowed a friends air compressor for the assembly phase of the project. While Oliver didn’t love the noise at first, I had a blast.
I sat on my hallway stairs and worked on the first chair late into the night. Figuring out how to tuck the foam to get a smooth curve, testing how tight to pull the muslin, learning the best places to start stapling on each side to make sure the tension was even on the fabric and no wrinkles formed. The end results came out better than I could have imagined.
Final reupholstery touches
One of the last steps in the process is to apply a trim to cover the fabric edge and staples. I applied a simple silver braided trim using a hot glue gun taking pains not to get glue on the main fabric. Final step? Call your Mom and share how excited you are about a chair.
Furniture Reupholstery – I Can’t Wait to do More
Even though I reupholstered these chairs years ago at this point, I was so excited to share my progress I took dozens of photos to share with my family. Prior to leaving CA where I was living at the time I purchased a second pair of chairs to refinish and reupholster. For several years my upholstery tools and those chairs sat in storage. I can’t wait to finally clear a workspace so I can show you step by step how to upcycle furniture and share the immense pride you can also have in your transformations.